Today we’d like to introduce you to Jose Romero.
Hi Jose, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I live in Greenville (Taylors) SC and have been painting since 1999 when I was studying architecture in New York City and had the opportunity to study abroad in Rome, Italy. There I studied art and architecture, and was drawn to the paintings of the masters such as Michelangelo and Caravaggio. I began painting the Fall I got back to school in Brooklyn. Don’t get me wrong, I do love architecture and practice this as well, but painting has got my heart.
I was (like everyone) at first just studying techniques and materials, really liked getting the canvas thickened with material. To sustain me and my then young wife I was practicing architecture full time, and painting in the evenings and weekends.
In 2001 I had the misfortune of witnessing 9/11 from a rooftop on Canal Street, and saw the buildings collapse. This left a deep imprint in me that slowly developed into PTSD and anxiety. Some of that transposed into my work and I painted in black and white a lot, and using wax…. Somehow I did manage to get color into my work, and began showing with a modest show in the Hamptons of Long Island. This was in 2005, and by 2007 I had also shown at a small gallery in Upstate New York’s Orange County.
I had bounced around in firms this whole time and by 2009 when the economy was collapsing, I found myself out of work and with a brand new baby. And oh yes, I had now been diagnosed with PTSD and an anxiety disorder and was experimenting with different medications to battle it. It was then that my parents came to the rescue, they had just bought a house in South Carolina and wanted their grandbaby close to them. Having no options but also having had visited Greenville in 2007 and fallen in love with its downtown, we moved down here. Best move I could’ve made…
I was now showing at a gallery in Columbus, Ohio, and had been published in two popular books… But for work, I was doing alternative jobs which weren’t satisfying, but at least paid the bills, specially since we now had Sofia as well as our first little boy Marcelo. It wasn’t until we were about to have our third, Julian, that I had the fortune of finding a job in architecture and was able to buy the house we live in now. This gave me a lift and I now started painting again… I hadn’t done so since 2012 and it was now 2016. It wasn’t until 2019 that I started showing in Greenville, with a show at the offices of MHK Architecture and Planning in downtown.
From there I went to show at the Greer Center for Arts, the Greenville Center for Arts, The Wild Hare Gallery in Travelers Rest, and became good friends with Thaddeus Inchoate who at the time had his gallery in Greenville’s Pendleton district in the West End. I also had the fortune of showing at The Artist Guild of Greenville, and a few other galleries around the Upstate. I started doing competitions, and won in Flat Out Under Pressure which is organized by Greenville’s Metropolitan Art Council. Also became a finalist in a black and white competition for a gallery in San Francisco. People started taking notice and as a result of entering another competition, I landed a show in New York City. This took place this last Spring in April, and I have done a couple of local shows and fairs from there on.
I don’t feel depressed anymore, and am now trying to finish a painting every week. I do have a couple of small shows in Greenville coming up so that’s exciting, and am awaiting funding from Palmetto Luna Arts for a show in Columbia, and am looking forward to my prospects for next year as well.
I am a Honduran/American artist and architect, and my approach is as distinct as my background as well as my style. Just google ‘Jose Romero artist’ and you will find me…
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In New York: Witnessing 9/11 made me develop PTSD and anxiety. I had depression for a very long time, and while there were a lot of bright times when going through it, there were also a lot of dark times.
In Greenville: Suffering the economy, I was downgraded significantly in pay and type of work, and this didn’t help with my depression. But once I found work in my profession, things have significantly improved.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My (art) work is introspective, and things get regurgitated once they have been marinating in me. This could be a happening, a place, a person or thing that I experience. This isn’t very different than a lot of abstract expressionists, but none of them are Honduran. I was born there, and lived there till the age of ten. And then I had the good fortune of experiencing America for the past 38 years, and am now very Americanized. So this mixture shows in my work, with very expressive colors and memories or subject matter which hint at my mestizo background. Sometimes I work with a subject and sometimes I just let my mind go blank and let my body’s memory take over….
As for architecture, I specialize in residential. I am proficient at both modern and traditional styles. I worked in the field in New York from 2000 to 2009, with a variety of projects which ranged from high end residential, to restaurants and train stations, not to mention The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco where I got to design the Penguin exhibit and coordinate the designs of the other large and small tanks.
In Greenville, I have worked predominantly in high end residential, with one restaurant to date here. I started working on solo projects in 2018 and have now amassed around 15 of these….
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My parents Israel and Reina Romero. Period.
Mitch Lehde and Keith Gilbert of MHK Architecture and Planning. They gave me my artistic wings, and Mitch always recommends me for smaller budget residential projects which he can’t take.
Thaddeus Inchoate of Inchoate Art Gallery.
Pricing:
- $440 for 18×24 works on paper
- $220 for 12×16 works on paper
- $5000 for large painting behind me.
- $600 for smaller painting behind me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zhibit.org/chemaro
- Instagram: @romerojoseartist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=641224125
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-romero-066451/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfwe7TY2bc4
